Land conservation backers top $225,000 in May

By TBO.com staff

Published: June 10, 2014

The News Service of Florida reports: A group spearheading a proposed constitutional amendment that would boost land-conservation efforts raised $225,098 in cash in May, bringing its overall total to about $2.9 million, according to newly filed campaign reports.

The group, Florida’s Water and Land Legacy, Inc., received its biggest contribution during the month, $75,000, from The Nature Conservancy.

In addition to the $2.9 million in cash it has raised, the group also had received a total of $375,000 in loans and $551,049 in in-kind contributions through May, according to the reports.

It had spent about $2.97 million, with much of that money going to efforts to collect petition signatures to reach the ballot.

The proposal, which will appear as Amendment No. 1 on the November ballot, would set aside a portion of the state’s documentary-stamp tax revenues for such purposes as acquiring conservation lands and protecting water sources.